A critical examination of these important figures, combined with a useful general survey of modern black American history.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Black leaders and limited options: black protest and accommodation 1800-1877; from Booker T.Washington to Jesse L.Jackson. Part 2 Booker T.Washington - black enigma: southern race relations 1865-1895; Booker T.Washington - early life; Tuskegee; the Atlanta compromise address; "Up from Slavery"; black leader; Washington and his critics; assessment. Part 3 W.E.B. Du Bois - talented propagandist: northern blacks organize for protest 1890-1910; W.E.B. Du Bois - curriculum vitae; "Crisis" editor; pan-Africanism; "a leader without followers" 1934-1963; assessment. Part 4 Marcus Garvey - Jamaican messiah: the northern black ghetto 1900-1920; Marcus Garvey - black Jamaican; Garvey in America; Garveyism; Garvey and his black critics; assessment. Part 5 Martin Luther King, Jr - apostle for nonviolence: a new deal for blacks? - civil rights and the Negro protest 1932-1954; Martin Luther King, Jr - the making of a leader; the southern Christian leadership conference; MLK and JFK; Albany and Birmingham; St Augustine, Freedom Summer and Selma; Chicago, black power and Vietnam; the Poor People's Campaign and the Memphis Strike; assessment. Part 6 Malcolm X - sinner and convert: black nationalism after Garvey - the separate impulse 1930-1950; Malcolm Little and Malcolm X; Malcolm X - Muslim; "The Autobiography of Malcom X"; Malcolm X and his black critics; assessment. Part 7 Jesse Jackson - populist preacher: from black power to political power 1986-1984; black power - "old wine in new bottles"?; Jesse Jackson - form A & T to PUSH; presidential contender.